Velvet Underworld
by Seeress
Summary: The thoughts and remembrances of Wolfwood and Vash as each justifies the reasons for his actions and existence while heading to his own final battle.


**Velvet Underworld**

__

_Disclaimer:_ This is a purely non-profit story written for entertainment purposes only. All characters of Trigun belong to their respective owners. 'Velvet Underworld' is the opening song for Weiß Kreuz, and it also belongs to its respective owners.

_WARNING:_ Contains massive spoilers for episodes 23 and 25, with references of other episodes throughout the entire series. If you have not seen the whole show and do not wish to spoil it for yourself, do not read anything from this point on.

_Author's Notes:_ Well, another experiment of mine that's been waiting to be written. I'd listened to the song a long time ago, and recently I looked over the translated lyrics and realized that they reminded me of Trigun. I started drafting what I would write, and it turns out that the lyrics are as close to a perfect fit as I've ever seen. Now, there is a bit of a time shift in this story; as you all know, Wolfwood dies in episode 23, so his thoughts are from there and back. Vash's thoughts are from the end of episode 25/start of episode 26 and range all the way back throughout the series. It's kind of strange, but my aim for this was to get each of their perspectives as they head to their 'final battles,' so to speak.

With that cleared up, on to the story.

*~*~*

**[Vash]**

He walked serenely through the stifling desert heat, the sun glaring off the sand dunes and Wolfwood's cross hanging heavily over his shoulder. His feet made no sound as he stepped through the sand, but his footsteps traced a path through the smooth surface as if it were a blank canvas. In a way, it was symbolic; he was going to tie up loose ends. After this, there would be a new beginning – for all of them.

A gentle breeze came by, carrying hot desert air and blowing sand in his face. His red duster coat trailed behind him, the long, crimson waves another reminder of an all-too-tragic past.

_The red flower Rem loved… the geranium. In the language of flowers, it means determination._

**The world is strewn with flowers like a carpet of crimson red**

**As one scatters and tosses through the air**

He could still remember the ship. Project SEEDS. He remembered being in the command room when the first glimpse of the desert planet came into view, sitting beside Knives with streamers flying everywhere and a party hat on his head. He remembered the cold room, with hundreds of people frozen in cold sleep until a suitable planet was found. The ship seemed dire and lonely, but every time he saw the butterflies he would feel warmth, feel alive. They had made a promise there, the three of them: they would create Eden, a place where people could live peacefully with no violence nor stealing. The rec. room seemed lush and full of promises for a better future.

_"If there is a God in deep space, He might laugh at our pitiful struggle for immortality."_

He didn't know then that there was darkness everywhere; whether one saw it or not was a different matter. And he never got the chance to see until it was too late.

**Sorrow and sadness are born there**

**From the darkness that streams underneath**

It all unravelled. 

He hadn't realized it, but his brother's heart had been hardened. He would like to blame the transition on someone, Steve perhaps, but he knew that had it not been for Knives's aggressive nature none of it would've happened. He learned later what had transpired. Knives had seen his chance when Steve got drunk; Mary and Rowan agreed to be his accomplices. Steve was detained in the freezer. The next thing he knew, he, Rem, and Knives saw Rowan standing in a darkened room, a gun in his hand and Mary's dead body at his feet. Rowan had a crazed look in his eyes. He pointed the gun at Knives. In retrospect, he wondered if life would've been better had Rowan pulled the trigger, but Rem jumped in front of him instinctively. Joey, afraid that Rowan would shoot Rem, had opened an airlock that pulled both Rowan and Mary's body out into space. Knives had turned them all on one another, but Rem had tried to fight.

But it didn't matter. They all met the same fate in the end.

**Ah, are hearts only meant to lie?**

**Are people just puppets of fate?**

*~*~*

**[Wolfwood]**

He stood bare-chested, gazing out of the arched window with his hands in his pockets and a cigarette in his mouth. Above him, the fifth moon shone its iridescent light through the cloudless sky, its gaping hole a reminder of reality. The smoke from the cigarette rose and swirled about his head, and he inhaled deeply. There were too many thoughts and possibilities in his mind. Something in his face was grim, determined. In the darkness, she slept on peacefully, with the covers pulled up to her chin and a contented smile on her lips.

He sighed.

**Only to embrace those we love**

**And protect those small and precious**

**Today again some one shouts that out**

_Life is like an incessant series of problems, all difficult, with brutally limited choices and a time limit. The worst thing is to make no decision, waiting for the ideal solution to present itself. Make the best choice in a split-second. We're not like God. Not only are our powers limited, but we sometimes have to play the Devil. _

He kept thinking back to that boy. A Gung-ho Gun. Zazie the Beast. Did he have alternatives? Would the boy not have shot Vash? Sometimes he couldn't understand that man; his way of thinking, his way of living. It was as if he made it hard for himself on purpose. But was he right? He kept replaying the scene over and over in his mind. It was for the children, he kept telling himself. He couldn't have done nothing. And yet… in the dark recesses of his mind where he kept count of the number of people he'd killed, he couldn't help but feel guilty.

**Sacrificing even their life**

**To smoulder in the midst of time**

**With that instant kiss.******

*~*~*

**[Vash]**

The first thing he remembered seeing was a pile of rubble and a ruined city, deserted and uninhabitable. The buildings had crumbled and there was no one about, only hot, lashing wind shifting the sand. He wondered briefly how something so terrible could've happened, but something inside him partly knew the answer and wanted to deny it. He couldn't recall how he had gotten there. He searched for survivors; the only person he found was a little girl with a bow in her hair, alone and rubbing the tears out of her eyes.

_"I have no memory."_

**In this city stained with greed**

**There is only wind blowing towards the sky**

He had never stopped crying. It seemed as though everything just went around in a vicious circle: the violence, the killing, the pain. Knives had killed the crew, and they landed on a desert planet unfit for life. He had tried that one night more than a century ago to kill his brother, but he hadn't been able to bring himself to do it. Then there had been the time when he had first shot Knives, right after his brother had returned with their guns. So scared of what he had done, he had screamed and fled, taking both guns with him. For two years he wandered aimlessly, until the people living in the floating plant picked him up and healed him, also giving him his red coat. Afterwards he fought for love and peace, protecting those who needed his help.

It was eighty years later on the floating ship that he realized that there was someone alive who was related to Rem. The man lived in July city, and he had gone there in the hopes of informing the man of his heritage. Knives had beaten him to it. The man was dead, lying in a pool of his own blood. Tears streamed unbidden down his cheeks. That was also where he lost his left arm. 

And all he could remember was the blinding white light.

_"It's enough to dry up your tears forever."_

**All that is left of trampled love**

**Is the tear left in the palm of my hand**

His smiles were always fake. He had lost all reason to smile decades before. Smiling was done simply for him to keep a semblance of humanity, and because he thought people looked so tragic when they frowned. There had been enough tragedy in his life; far more than enough to last a lifetime. All smiles faltered after a while. No one could ever escape pain.

**Ah, were smiles only meant to sunder?**

**Every one has their wounded hearts**

*~*~*

**[Wolfwood]**

He always thought tomorrow would be different, but that proved wrong. The orphanage was his only consolation. It brought meaning to his life, brought a short-lived sense of peace. His own childhood was anything but desirable. There was something about children… their innocence, perhaps, that made him want to protect them at all costs.

**I want to protect those timid creatures**

**Those who kneel in prayer**

Seven was not nearly old enough to be killing. To pick up a gun; to taste death. The trigger was easy to pull, and though it was a terrible price to pay, he had set himself free. He didn't realize that things never got better. He couldn't escape. He had set himself free from one prison, only to be captured in another. That man was always there, tall and mysterious, with his cowboy-like hat and strange, wide eyes. Chape the Evergreen. And the lush green apple… he thought he'd never be able to reach it. It was only later did he realize that sometimes he did have to play the Devil in order to save someone.

**I'll even carve a cross in my chest**

**To believe in something unstoppable**

The time had come, and he knew it. He knew that the next time he felt that force of mind exerted on him, when his hands shook and he felt that presence again, the time had come when everything would end. He needed to know what he was sacrificing everything for, if it was all worth it. And Vash had given him a satisfactory answer.

He knew they would be watching. He knew his mentor would be disappointed. How easily swayed he had been, believing in morals in a world like this and after all the things he'd done.  Fool he may have been, but a life of belief seemed more welcoming than a life of despair. He _was_ a priest, after all. So when the time came, his finger on the trigger, the choice upon him at last, there seemed to be only one possible option. He lowered his gun, grabbed the apple, and turned away…

The strangled sound from Chape's lips made him turn back. There was a look of terror and apology in his eyes, his hand raising the gun, and his finger struggling to get to the trigger. Wolfwood raised his own gun immediately, and for a time they stared at each other, neither doing anything to give away the moment that they would fire.

Gunshots rang through the air.

**And the irrepressible spirit**

**Now and forever**

*~*~*

**[Vash]**

The sense of foreboding grew larger in his mind and he knew that he was close. 

_"What do you intend to do once you see Knives?"_

He himself wondered what he would do when he saw his brother again. What was it that he found so amusing? Knives had hurt him, hurt everyone who had come into contact with him, just for the sake of his twisted game. Did he want revenge? His own words, shouted out at his brother in a moment of anger, came drifting back to him on a whisper of the wind. 

_"I want to save both of them!"___

**The clouds disperse **

Inepril city provided a safe haven, after the citizens had stopped trying to hunt him down for the reward money. There, high up and unbeknownst to the world, he took a bottle of champagne and poured out its contents, the sparkling droplets catching the dying sunlight and shimmering a beautiful red.

_"Tired, aren't you?"_

**The stars are seen**

_"What are you going to do with the gun?" _

_"I'm going to use this to keep peace in the world."_

**The wind stills **

Sometimes he wished he were still there in May city, where he could wake up to the birds and play with the children. He and Wolfwood had first collaborated there during the Quick Draw tournament, and it was one of his clearest memories. The heavy cross hanging over his shoulder was the only thing he had left to keep a memory of someone he considered his closest friend.

_"That's because it's so full of mercy."_

**The birds sing**

The grand mansion of Cliff Caesar rumbled and roared then finally exploded into an eruption of crystalline water higher than a tsunami. With all the pressure built up, the stream continued to spurt for quite a while. After every single drop had emptied itself from inside the underground plant, all the water had overflowed and filled not only the town, but the whole valley. As they stood watching the scene from atop higher ground, he couldn't help but remember the deep cerulean seas of Earth that Rem often spoke of, dazzlingly infinite and full of life.

**The ocean shines**

He was lucky enough to have found a temporary home. Lina and Grandmother were among his happiest memories. There, living a simple life, unknown by so many people, he was content. For a time, he was freer than he had ever been.

But Wolfwood had come to find him. And he had inevitably drawn him back. He sat down and had Lina cut his hair for him, mimicking the same thing Rem had done for him so many decades ago. The thing that had hurt him most about leaving was Lina's tears.

**The heavens thaw**

The brakes were jammed. There was tons of pressure building up in the boiler and the hull could explode at any minute. The deadline was only 800 yarz away by the time the emergency brakes were activated. The ship was still skidding, but then something that someone totally unexpected did saved them all. He came out on deck with Kaite in the morning just as the suns were rising. Kaite was singing Rem's song. He looked beyond to the rising twin orbs. The night was over; they had all made it through… alive.

**The night ends **

_"Knives is in Demitrihi."_

He could see it now, the upper green leaves of a large tree, totally out of place and abrupt in the middle of a desert. There were a few other trees, just a small bunch of them, and a lush coat of grass beneath. It had all been created. Beneath the large tree, sitting in a chair with his legs crossed and sipping a glass of red wine was a tall blonde man with broad shoulders and chilling blue eyes. 

_Vash, take care of Knives._

He understood now what she had been trying to tell him. The man put down his glass and raised a hand in salute. All this time, it had been right there with him but he could never figure it out. He put Wolfwood's cross on the ground. Her parting words. The man stood up, and they faced each other again after a long time. Now he understood.

_"No one has the right to take the life of another."_

He would take care of him.

**I feel you**

~*_OWARI_*~


End file.
